Here’s how to respond after the third time ... or the sixth ... or the tenth
Photo: Sue Barr/Getty Images/Image Source My 2-and-a-half-year-old daughter is at an age where I can never predict what will come out of her mouth next. Eve attends preschool all day, five days a week, and often comes home repeating phrases or songs for which I have little to no context. So far, every unfamiliar utterance has been completely innocuous, but it’s still jarring to be reminded that she’s developing into a person with independent thoughts, proclivities, and daily stimuli.
Thankfully, she doesn’t always repeat phrases quite to this extent each time, but I would be lying if I pretended these occurrences weren’t … annoying. She is my precious child, and it’s a joy to see her happy, but let’s be honest: There is never a time that I am in the mood to be told the same exact thing five, six, seven times in succession, with no end in sight. Of course, like most irritations inherent to her age, I grit my teeth and deal with it, out of amused resignation.
“Toddlers are trying to imitate us because they want to be included in the conversation,” Wright added. “They are practicing their social language skills.” This developmental phase can definitely be wearing — like when she tosses a carrot onto the ground for the third time, glancing at me with a smirk to see how I’ll react — but knowing that I can ascribe her antics to an evolutionary mandate that seeks consistency in responses grants me a bit more patience. A bit.
If there’s anything I’ve learned during the past few months of this current repetition phase, it’s the futility of phoning it in. Distracted, one-word responses are not only frustrating and dismissive, they also just further communicate that Mommy didn’t hear what I said, so I need to say it again.
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